ARTIST 101: Gašper Šantl

This Artist 101 guide contains everything you need to know about Slovenia’s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Gašper Šantl.

Who is Gašper Šantl?

Gašper Šantl is a 23-year-old Slovenian music producer and guitarist who won Slovenia’s national selection show for Eurovision Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA) and will represent his country at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel along with singer Zala Kralj.

Growing up in Maribor, Gašper always loved music, and so he already started playing the guitar and other instruments at a very young age. Later, he studied to become an audio producer and a composer, and just on the day of his graduation, he took his bike and a small backpack and started to travel through Europe, searching for a job. He wasn’t really sure if there was a studio that would help him, but he wasn’t afraid of taking risks for his biggest dream. After 80 days, though, he found his place at Faust Records in Prague, Chech Republic, and under the wing of the studio, he spent two years, learning more about the profession he chose.

He focused on building his own musical career and didn’t know he will need someone to create big things until the day he started to search for a vocalist to record his song “Valovi” with. In 2017, he met his other half Zala on Instagram, where she shared some of her videos, and then the duo began to form.

They really broke into the music industry, with their first number taking over radio stations across Slovenia and winning the Slovenian annual music award Zlata pišcal for “The Best Song of 2017”. However, Zala was just credited as a featuring artist back then. They became a duo in April 2018, when they signed a contract with Universal Music Slovenia and released two new songs “Baloni” and “S teboi”. Their fourth single “Sebi” was presented on EMA 2019, and just a couple of days after its premiere, they released an EP called Štiri (Four) with all 4 singles. Now, they are preparing for hitting the grandiose Eurovision stage.

What’s more? The cherry on the cake is that they are a couple. We know that it’s obvious.

When is his birthday?

Gašper’s birthday is on April 9, 1996.

What is his most popular song?

To date, his competing entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest “Sebi”, a hypnotizing ballad is Gašper’s most popular number.

“Sebi” was written and composed by the artists themselves, Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl. It’s entirely sung in Slovene, and it’s about a close bond between two people that cannot be broken.